Trust Me
by Penny Ali
Summary: Dumbledore, in an attempt to keep the peace, ties Harry and Draco together to learn "trust" and "tolerance". Needless to say, it doesn't go as planned and little problems soon pop up.
1. Default Chapter

Dislcaimer: The Hogwarts crew and related objects are sole property of JK Rowling, not me.  
  
Chapter One.  
  
*~*~*  
  
"Get lost, Malfoy."  
  
Draco smild coldly and took aim from where he stood, closing his right eye and aiming for the scar on Harry's forehead. "What are you going to do about it Potter? I told you at the end of last year I'd kill you."  
  
"Funny, I recall you saying I was dead." Harry's voice was falsely thoughtful. It was stupid to goad him, like going up and slapping Snape while he slept. "Did I get it wrong?"  
  
"Funny, Potter, very funny," Draco said through clenched teeth, mentally reviewing spells he could use on Harry.  
  
Harry smirked. "Didn't your daddy ever teach you a sense of humour?" he asked innocently. "Then again, he hasn't been around much -"  
  
Crash. A statue behind Harry shattered into small pieces, Draco's aim destroyed by his fury. "Watch it Potter," he said, his teeth never unclenching.  
  
"Cruel, isn't it?" Harry asked. "But then again, life is cruel..."  
  
"You're right," Draco said, lowering his wand. "That's why I've got parents, and you don't."  
  
Harry forgot his wand, forgot where he was, forgot everything except the glory of smashing Draco's face in last year and his desire to do it now.  
  
"POTTER! MALFOY!" It was Professor McGonagall, and she was furious. "I've told you - warned you both - that's it. To the Headmaster's office, now." She waved her wand and muttered something. Both boys felt a strange sort of invisible plastic bag feeling wrap itself around their wand hands.  
  
Glowering at each other, they walked in front of McGonagall to the entrance to Dumbledore's office.  
  
"Sugar quill," Professor McGonagall informed the gargoyle coldly, and it leapt aside. Harry stepped on to the revolving staircase, feeling hopeful. Malfoy had started it, as usual, and Dumbledore was bound to see sense. It was Malfoy, after all, the son of a Death Eater. He, Harry, was in the right here.  
  
Dumbledore was sitting at his desk when they entered. He wore bright purple robes with images of chilli everywhere. Harry nearly laughed out loud, only controlling himself by sitting down and ducking his head.  
  
Draco remained standing, and McGonagall started explaining. "You said to bring them both straight away if they started fighting again, Albus. Well, I found them by the stairs. Malfoy had his wand out, and they were both yelling. Mr Malfoy seems to have destroyed the statue of Phillip the Punisher. What would you like me to do with them?"  
  
"Do, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked. "Nothing. I believe I shall take matters into my own hands. I would have thought you two would have learnt trust and loyalty by now, but I see you haven't. I have only had to do this once before - alas that I must do it again. Up!" he said to Harry, and Harry stood feeling dazed.  
  
"Now, stand back to back," he instructed, taking Draco and almost forcibly turning him. McGonagall did the same to Harry, pressing the two boys together. Harry winced in disgust and shame. Imagine Ron or Hermione finding out...  
  
"Sir!" Malfoy said angrily. "What are you doing? This is not dignified behaviour!"  
  
"I'm sorry you think that way, Master Malfoy," Dumbledore said calmly, "but I have given you every opportunity to cease fighting with Master Potter. Now, this will feel strange, but afterwards I shall explain."  
  
He pulled his wand from his pocket and rumbled, "eterntius!"  
  
Harry encountered the very uncomfortable feeling of his wrists, then arms, then torso being forcibly tied to Draco's. "What are you doing, sir?" he gasped.  
  
Draco, on the other hand, had panicked. He threw himself forward, discovered he couldn't free himself from Harry, and then threw himself backwards. Both boys landed on the floor, Draco on top. His hair was wildly mussed by now, and he rolled to one side in a desperate attempt to escape. "What - have - you - done?" he panted, giving up and trying pitifully to stand. "What - is this?"  
  
"I have placed you in a magical tie situation," Dumbledore replied, sitting at his desk again. "You see, you two will have to work together to see where you go, what you do, even how you stand or sit. The ties will loosen themselves when you learn to trust each other."  
  
Harry thought he was going to be sick. Tied to Draco? How embarrasing! Everyone would see them, Ron and Hermione would either laugh or attack him -  
  
"There is one other thing," Dumbledore said, holding up a hand to stop Draco breaking into he momentary silence. "I am sure you have both heard of a dominant male - well, that applies in this case. The dominant one - either you or Master Malfoy, will have the lead, and the other will be invisible. You will have to work things out beforehand, so that you don't end up fighting in the corridors. It may look - disturbing."  
  
Draco made a muffled noise. He coudn't think of a worse fate than being tied to Harry. And this dominant male bit - what was Dumbledore playing at? It sounded foul.  
  
He tried, once more, to make Dumbledore see reason. "Sir, I don't think this is a good idea. It seems -"  
  
BR."I stairs.?  
  
Harry stared. Walk down the stairs? Tied back-to-back with Draco Malfoy?  
  
"Come on, Potter," McGonagall said kindly, and took him by the elbow, making sure he was the one facing forward. Harry took a few tentative steps, and fell backwards, ripping his stomach muscles. The cause of the fall was plain: not expecting to start moving, Draco had fallen over, pulling Harry down with him.  
  
"You'll have to do better than that, boys," Dumbledore said with a small smile. Harry knew that he was just waiting until they got outside to start laughing at them.  
  
Draco, wincing in pain, got up. When he'd fallen over he'd twisted his ankle, and Harry falling on top of him had knocked the breath out of him. Even more disturbing was the fleeting thought that Harry's back really did feel nice - smooth and well muscled. Shaking his head, Draco tried to get the hang of walking backwards. For fun, he kicked Harry a few times, but abandoned that pursuit when they started down the stairs.  
  
"Now, I have to go to the kitchens before dinner," McGonagall said when they reached the bottom. Only her hand tightly gripping Harry's arm had stopped them both falling down the tightly spiralling staircase. "I'm afraid you two are on your own. Remember what Professor Dumbeldore said: the sooner you learn trust and co-operation, the sooner you will be untied. Now, excuse me." She strode off, shoulders shaking with supressed mirth.  
  
"Well, I'm glad someone finds this amusing," Draco said bitterly. "Just think how awful this would be if there was no entertainment value."  
  
"This is awful," Harry snapped. "I can't believe I'm stuck to you for Merlin only knows how long! Is that a snake tattoo on your arm?"  
  
"Yes," Draco said shortly, pushing the sleeve of his robes down as well as he could. "We're only stuck like this until you learn to trust me."  
  
"Never," Harry said flatly, and both boys walked off as if to go to their common rooms.  
  
The next thing he knew, Draco was on the ground, legs sprawled in front of him, resting against Harry's back. Harry's head was back against his shoulder, green eyes scant inches from Draco's own. He could see the icy- grey colour reflected in Harry's eyes, like a living green mirror -  
  
"Good one, Malfoy," Harry snapped. "You forgot: we're stuck together. Therefore, we go to the Gryffindor Common Room."  
  
"Since when?" Draco demanded, trying to get as far away from Harry as he could. Pushing uselessly against the ground, he eventually managed to struggle into a standing position, by pushing himself against Harry. "If we go anywhere, we'll go to the Slytherin Common Room. Dumbledore said whoever was dominant chose where to go - " he broke off and cursed himself. "Why didn't we think of this beforehand?" he asked, and without waiting for Harry's reply yelled "finite!"  
  
The bonds holding them loosened, and Draco leapt forward triumphantly. Now the ties felt like water, and then...  
  
He felt himself snapped back against Harry so violently that he pressed firmly against Harry's ass before he realised it. The only thing stopping him from falling over yet again was that Harry was pressed up against his ass just as firmly.  
  
Harry blushed and hoped no-one would come around the corner anytime soon. He was ground into Draco's back, feeling the muscles tense under his robes. "This is tupid," he said more forcefully than he'd intended, completely flustered. "Relashio!"  
  
There was a loud bang, everywhere and nowhere all at once, and both boys fell to the ground unconscious. 


	2. 2

Chapter Two  
  
*~*~*  
  
Harry woke up, feeling cold marble under his butt and soft hair under his head. Completely idiodically, he thought that he'd fallen asleep in the common room before the fire, resting against Crookshanks or Parvati's cat Whizzbang.  
  
Then he realised that he was in the middle of a corridor, the hair under his cheek was blonde, and somebody was sending him very nasty vibes.  
  
Memory flooded back, and with it, horror.  
  
"Well," Draco said coldly, "nice to see you've come around. As you can see, your spell knocked us both out. By my watch, it's nine-thirty. This means we've missed dinner, so I'm hungry. Congratulations."  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry said absently. We have to get upstairs to the common room before Ron and Hermione notice I'm gone. I can tell them that I went for a walk or something; they'll buy that. I can duck by the kitchens first, and get something to eat."  
  
"Potter," Draco said in a voice that sounded like honey laced with strychnine, "you will have to survive without Weasel and Mudblood for a little while. Becuase until this charade ends, you will be getting to know the Slytherin Common Room very well."  
  
Having said that, he managed to manuever himself into a sitting position. "Now, on the count of three, push," Draco muttered, teeth gritted as he felt Harry fit himself against Draco's back. "One - two - three!"  
  
Draco pushed; Harry pushed; for a moment their behinds were locked into some kind of furious wrestling match, and they were standing up.  
  
"Well, that wasn't so hard," Harry muttered. "This way."  
  
"Who made you boss?" Draco asked furiously. "I said we were going to Slytherin Common Room. Dumbledore said that the odminant male leads."  
  
"Since when did you listen to Dumbledore?" Harry asked. "I say we go to the Gryffindor Common Room."  
  
He started walking, and Draco held his ground. For a moment both were struggling, and then Harry felt something like a curtain drop over him, covering his entire body.  
  
'What have you done now, Malfoy?" he asked in complete exasperation.  
  
"I didn't do anything," Draco snapped, trying to look over his shoulder. "Ha!" he said. "You're invisible, which means I'm dominant, which means I win and you lose. Slytherin Common Room it is."  
  
It was hard, walking with the someone who was tied to you. It didn't help that help that Harry draged his feet at every opportunity, or kicked Draco in the back of the legs, or tried to stop dead.  
  
But a Malfoy was nothing if not stuborn. He bore the kicks and stops with as much as grace as he could, until he came to the stairs that led down to the Slytherin Common Room .Jumping down the first three, he had a moment's satisfaction as Harry stumbled against him - and then they were both falling, bouncing off the steps and each other in a tangled heaps of arms and legs.  
  
Draco landed on the bottom - there has to be something wrong here, he thought - Harry pressed against him. Not for the first time, he wondered why exactly Dumbledore had felt the need to humiliate him so thoroughly.  
  
Harry lay flat o his back, feeling Draco try to breathe and the way his muscles flexed under his robes. This wasn't fair. Why had Dumbledore done this? Wouldn't it have been easier, and less disruptive to simply gove Harry and Draco both detentions?  
  
But that's not what he wanted, part of him whispered. He wanted you to learn something.  
  
Since Harry was sure it wasn't that Draco's ass clenched when he was mad, he tried to roll of the other boy. His hair was untidier than usual, and his robes ahd come undone down the front. He blushed.  
  
Draco almost gave in to the temptation to lean against Harry's back, just for something to lean against, but restrained himself just in time. His carefully brushed blonde hair was all over, and he was panting. Out of the corner of his eye he saw tufts of black hair, which meant that he'd lost dominant male status.  
  
From around the corner came sounds of singing. Draco only had time to register shock before Peeves bounced around the corner, toppling any statue or portait he could reach. Several subjects clustered together, shouting at him. He poked his tongue out at them and stopped.  
  
"Why, it's the Malfoy Boy!" he crowed gleefully. "What's he been getting into, then?" He stopped dead, and a shocked look crossed his pale features.  
  
Draco winced; he knew what was coming.  
  
"Potty wee Potter!" Pevves shouted. "What are you doing down here - with the Malfoy Boy?" Then he nodded. "I get it." He sailed off, and Draco let out a sigh of relief.  
  
Just a few moments too soon, however.  
  
"POTTER IS SLEEPING WITH MALFOY! EVERYBODY LISTEN! MORTALS, GHOSTS, PORTRAITS, LEND ME YOUR EARS! POTTER AND MALFOY!"  
  
"Merlin damn that poltergeist," Draco muttered, now pink. "He's nothing but a pain in the -"  
  
Sounds echoed from above. It sounded like everyong had heard Peeves and was now running down for a look. Forgetting Harry attatched to his back, Draco leapt upright and bolted for the Slytherin Common Room.  
  
He appraoched the false wall reluctantly. Trying to get a look over his shoulder, he decided to take a chance and believe that Harry had vanished.  
  
"Flesh eating candy apple," he whispered, face as close to the door as he could get it, so that Harry woudn't hear the password.  
  
"What the Hell do you mean, 'flesh eating candy apple'?" Harry asked. "That's a stupid password."  
  
"Oh, yeah? What's yours then?" Draco asked.  
  
Harry blushed red and muttered something about roses. "Hermione picked it," he said defensively. "I think it's better than yours, anyway. Or the one for the prefect's bathroom."  
  
"You know the password to the prefect's bathroom?" Draco asked, then another realisation hit him. There was no way to get free of Harry. Dumbledore had said so. That meant -  
  
Bathing together.  
  
Sleeping together.  
  
Sharing a chair.  
  
"Dear Lord, no," Draco whispered.  
  
Harry snorted. "It's not like I'd come in while you were in there, Malfoy," he said, turning a brighter red than the Weasley's hair.  
  
Draco decided wisely not to enlighten Harry at that particular moment. He didn't think he could have voiced this new thought out loud anyway. Instead, he walked into the Common Room, dragging Harry behind him.  
  
It was dark, crowded, and severely lacking the air of togetherness found in it's Gryffindor counterpart.  
  
Faces pressed out from the shadows, and Harry recognised a few: Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Malcolm Braddock...  
  
"Get out of my way," Draco snapped to the First Year in front of him. The girl looked up, and, instead of fleeing as Harry had expected her to do, snapped, "kiss my ass on your way to Hell."  
  
"Careful, Jayde," Draco snapped.  
  
Pushing her none too gently to one saide, he walked up a flight of stairs that obviously led to the boy's dorms.  
  
"Who was that?" Harry asked as Draco thought about sitting down. "You've got no right to treat kids like that. You're a prefect, you're supposed to help them."  
  
Draco snorted. "It's Jayde Parkinson, let Pansy worry about her. And you shut up. You're not supposed to advertise the fact that you're here."  
  
Harry watched as Draco pulled a pair of black silk pyjamas from under his pillow.  
  
"Please - tell me you're joking."  
  
"No joke, Potter," Draco replied grimly. "I'm going to bed. I guess that means you have to come too." 


	3. 3

Chapter Three  
  
*~*~*  
  
Harry scrunched his eyes shut tightly. Despite the fact that he couldn't sse Draco, he could feel him getting undressed, and it was NOT a good thing. He didn't know why Draco was doing this. It was humiliating. It was torture. It - it actually felt kind of nice.  
  
Draco's bare back was smooth, nicely muscled and straight. His ass - well, Harry wouldn't go there.  
  
"What the Hell are you doing, Potter?" Draco asked. Harry was moving slightly, and his breathing had quickened. Draco cursed. "Oh, Merlin," he said pleadingly. "Tell me you're not gay. Please tell me you're not gay. For the love of - "  
  
"All right, Malfoy, you can shut up. I'm not gay," Harry said, wondering if he were telling the truth. Shouldn't he find this embarrasing and degrading? If it weren't for the fact that it was Draco...  
  
He remembered an incedent in the Gryffindor Common Room in Sixth Year. Dean had been getting undressed, and hadn't bothered to shut the hangings around his bed. Harry had walked in and nearly died of shock.  
  
But instead of going red, wreching the hangings shut and yelling at Harry for not knocking, Dean had merely looked Harry up, down, and then smiled.  
  
Harry had - inadvertently, he was sure - looked at a bit too much of Dean, and felt the same things as he was feeling now. Almost as if he couldn't breathe.  
  
"You're as bad as Dean Thomas," he snapped, trying to cover the fact that he had no idea what was going on.  
  
"Thomas?" Draco asked. "The other Mudblood in your year?"  
  
"Shut your mouth!" Harry yelled furiously. "There's nothing wrong with him!"  
  
"Oh, sweet Merlin, you are gay," Draco yelled in horror. "Moreover, you're with Thomas. That's low, Potter. That's lower than low."  
  
How could Dumbledore have done this? Tied him, back to back with a gay guy?  
  
"I'm not gay!" Harry shouted furiously.  
  
"You are!" Draco shouted back. "Potter, you are the most freaky, stupid -" he broke off, turning red. Lounging in the doorway was Blaise Zabini.  
  
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked innocently enough, but there was a malevolent gleam in his eyes that Draco knew from past experience meant trouble.  
  
"Zabini," Draco drawled, inclining his head slightly. "Something I can help you with?" Safely in his pyjamas now, he turned around, hoping that his shuffling gait wouldn't show up, he turned the green covers on his bed down.  
  
"You were shouting at Potter," Blaise said, cutting straight through to the heart of the matter. "Don't try and deny it. At first, you said he was gay - with Dean Thomas, I believe. Then you called him freaky, and stupid. Something I should know? I'm sure the other Slytherins would be quite interested in why you were entertaining Harry Potter in our dormitory. Where is he, by the way?" he asked in a voice that promised ruin. "I'm sure he wouldn't be hiding. Not a very Gryffindor trait, now, is it? Let's see if we can find him."  
  
He shut the door, putting a locking charm on it, then started searching the rom. He did it methodically, under the bed, through the hangings, in the wardrobe, by the window. Then he'd head to the next alcove and start again.  
  
"Invisible, is he?" he asked when he reached the end of the row. "Apperacium!" The room lit up in veins of colour, some sparkling and almost blindingly bright, others dim, their lustre gone.  
  
Draco winced as beams of light shot through his eyes, and then stiffened in horror. In the mirror in front of him, he could see ghostly tufts of black hair!  
  
Blaise, however, missed it. "They must be the protection spells on the castle," he said as they faded. Then he smiled coldly and turned to Draco. "I'm watching you," he said pleasantly. "I heard what Peeves said this afternoon. I almost didn't believe it, but after this, anything could be possible." He shrugged. "Just remember, Draco, I'm watching you."  
  
Draco held his temper until the door had shut behind Blaise. The he let loose with a volley of swear words that Harry listened to in shock.  
  
When he began to repeat himself, Harry cut in, "what's going on there? He jealous or something. He can have you, just not while I'm here."  
  
"Very funny, Potter," Draco snapped sarcastically. "Zabini is just a stupid bastard who has nothing better to do than sniff around looking for problems that he can use to get people suspended. Didn't you ever wonder how Braddock and Pansy Parkinson got caught last year?"  
  
"No, not really," Harry said. "I thought that Slytherins stuck together."  
  
"Hardly," Draco snorted. "Half of being a Slytherin is looking out for yourself first. House togetherness is unheard of here."  
  
Harry was shocked. He'd almways assumed that Slytherins would stick together. The rest of the school did hate them, after all.  
  
"Potter," Draco growled. "I am now going to bed. "One wrong move and I'll strangle you with my bare hands."  
  
"Ron, where's Harry?" Hermione asked worriedly. They were sitting by the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, and she'd been asking him the same question every ten minutes.  
  
"I don't know, Hermione," Ron snapped. "I'm sitting here with you, aren't I? Maybe he went to visit Hagrid."  
  
"No, because Hagrid was at dinner," Hermione replied nervously. "Do you think he's hiding from us? Maybe we should check the Owlery, or the grounds. He does like to go for walks by himself lately..."  
  
Their discussion was interrupted by Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown and Dean Thomas brusting into the Common room, looking as if they didn't know whther to laugh or cry.  
  
"Ooh, you'll never guess," Parvati said, spotting Hermione and Ron and hurrying over to sit by them. Dean and Lavender followed.  
  
"Probably not," Hermione said coolly. "Listen, have any of you seen Harry? He didn't show up at dinner, and -"  
  
"Neither did Draco Malfoy," Dean purred.  
  
Ron had always wondered whething being queer messed with your brain cells. He now decided it did. "Dean, why would we care where the Hell Malfoy was?" he asked.  
  
"Then you didn't hear?" Lavender said. "Oh, it's absolutely awful," she continued. She actually did appear to be genuinely upset. "We've just come from discussing it in the library. Peeves was shouting to anyone who could hear that - well - Professor McGonagall ended up getting the Bloody Baron."  
  
"What is it, Lavender?" Hermione asked impatiently.  
  
"Peeves said that Harry and Draco Malfoy had been caught together by the corridor to the Slytherin Common Room," Dean said bluntly.  
  
Ron and Hermione looked at each other. Then, to everyone's surprise, Hermione burst out laughing.  
  
"What's so funny?" Parvati asked, looking mystified and slightly annoyed that Hermikone hadn't reacted right to her gossip.  
  
"Harry - and - Malfoy!' Hermione gasped, red-faced. "It's insane. Harry's not gay, and even if he was, which I really hope he isn't - no offence, Dean - he'd never be with Malfoy!"  
  
"Peeves saw it," Dean said obstinately.  
  
"And you'd believe Peeves, would you?" Ron asked, starting to grin himself. "You need your head checked, mate."  
  
"So where is he?" Parvati asked challengingly.  
  
Ron and Hermione's smiles vanished, and they ignored the question. 


	4. 4

Chapter Four  
  
Draco woke up the next morning and for a second had no idea what was going on. There was someone else in his bed, a warm body pressed snugly against his own.  
  
Panicking, he tried to get away from whoever it was - was I drunk last night? - but when the body moved with him he remembered.  
  
Potter. The ties. The fight with Zabini.  
  
He whimpered and tried to burrow under his covers, but the other boys were awake and watching him.  
  
"Problems, Draco?" Blaise asked innocently.  
  
"Shut up, Zabini," Draco growled. The he muttered, "Potter, we've got to get up and down to breakfast. Move your lazy ass and I might let you take first lesson."  
  
Hermione sat at the table in the Great Hall, hands folded in her lap, looking uncharacteristically worried, seeing as it was nowhere near exam time.  
  
"Do you think he'll show up for breakfast, Ron?" she asked nervously. "It can't be true. I mean, he would have told us, right?"  
  
"What are you on about, 'Mione?" Ginny asked, sitting down opposite her.  
  
"Nothing you need to worry about, and don't call me 'Mione," Hermione snapped crossly.  
  
"Well, if it's about that rot Peeves was spreading, I shouldn't be too worried about it," Ginny said loftily. "I mean, do you really think it could happen?"  
  
"You're right," Ron said, then stood up. "Oi, Harry!" he yelled. "Over here!"  
  
Harry walked over, and Hermione watched with concern. "There's something wrong with him," she said worriedly. "He's walking funny."  
  
Harry stared at the seat with some trepidation. "Right, what do we do now?" he asked softly. "I guess you have to sit backwards and miss breakfast."  
  
"Now, just a minute, Potter," Draco hissed. "If you think I'm going to miss another meal because of you, I'll - "  
  
Harry kicked backwards to shut him up and joined his friends. He was surprised to find that while he was walking it was like being glued to Draco from behind, but when he sat down, their legs sprang apart, so that each could sit on the chair, albeit uncomfortably.  
  
"Where were you last night, Harry?" Hermione asked gently, as if this were a mental patient she'd been warned to be very careful with.  
  
"Just, around, you know?" Harry evaded uncomfortably.  
  
"Around where? You were gone all night! You could have gotten into serious trouble."  
  
"Look, Hermione, I don't want to talk about it!" Harry said sharply. "Dumbledore kept me back, ok?" he asked in a fit of inspiration that took the form of Draco hissing in his ear.  
  
Hermione looked both satisfied with his explanation and hurt that he'd snaped at her. Ginny was looking at him oddly and Ron whistled.  
  
"Hey, where's Malfoy this morning?" Dean asked, artfully, leaning across to talk to Ron and Hermione. "Apparently he went missing just before breakfast, and no-one's seen him."  
  
"Oh, poor thing, he's been missing - what, twenty minutes?" Hermione snapped, knowing well what Dean was up to. "Why should we care where he went, anyway?"  
  
Harry turned pink. Draco had just choked with indignation, and while nobody appeared to have heard it, Dean noticed the blush.  
  
"Where were you last night, Harry?" Dean asked in the tone of someone kindly that you could talk to. Priest-at-the-confessional style.  
  
"Nowhere," Harry said too quickly. "I mean, Dumbledore held me back."  
  
"All night? You must have done something pretty damn terrible," Dean said sympathetically.  
  
"It's none of your business, mate," Ron snapped, intervening. "What Harry does is what Harry does. Don't question him!"  
  
"Ron, shut up," Harry hissed under his breath. To Dean he said, "it wasn't really anything important. Why?"  
  
Lavender and Parvati whipped around from their discussion. "Ooh, then you haven't heard the rumours?" Parvati asked keenly. "Peeves was spreading it all over the school yesterday."  
  
"And you'd believe what Peeves said?" Harry asked incredulously, heart sinking. Behind him, he heard Draco groan.  
  
"Well, no," Lavender said uncomfortably. "But - you disappeared, and nobody's seen Malfoy this morning, so we thought - but if you were with Dumbledore, I gues you couldn't have been -"  
  
Harry listened to her deliberate with mounting tension. When she stopped talking and smiled at him, he sighed with relief.  
  
"Hey, Potter!" someone shrieked. "Potter!" It was Pansy Parkinson, standing up at the Slytherin table, her expression one of spite. "What the Hell have you done with Malfoy, huh? Where is he?"  
  
"Shut up, Parkinson," Seamus said angrily. "Harry doesn't know where he is, do you Harry?"  
  
"No," Harry said untruthfully. Pushing his plate away, he said, "I'm leaving. I have to get some stuff from the Common Room before classes start." Standing up, he attempted to make a dignified exit, tripped, righted himself by grabbing the edge of the table, and managed to walked in synch enough with Draco to get out without further mishap.  
  
"Well, Draco said, shimmering into sight once they'd left the Hall. "That was a bit of a gruesome experience, wasn't it? I told you we should have gone to the Slytherin table. Nobody there questions me."  
  
"Oh, shut up, Malfoy," Harry said tiredly, just as Seamus came out of the Hall. "Harry, wait up!" he called. "I need to go up to the - oh, Merlin!" he shouted. "Harry, what the Hell have you done?"  
  
"Oh, shit," Harry said softly. "Seamus, I can explain." 


	5. 5

Chapter Five  
  
"Seamus, I can expliain."  
  
Harry would have given anything at that particular moment in time to just vanish and never come back. Even if it did mean taking Draco Malfoy with him.  
  
For a second, Seamus looked as if he were about to yell out to someone, and call the entire school's attention to harry's plight. Then, with a deep internal battle showing in his face, he shrugged. "Aye, you can probably explain. Start now, and we'll see how far we'll be getting before we get to the Common Room."  
  
Harry sighed with relief and started walking. Seamus came up beside him, deliberately ignoring Draco, who sputtered his indignation at such horrible treatment.  
  
"I had a fight with him yesterday," Harry started, "and Professor McGonagall caught us. Sent us up to Dumbledore."  
  
"So you were there last night," Seamus said with some relief. "For a minute I thought you'd be telling me that you'd stayed in Malfoy's bed!"  
  
"Shut up, Finnegan," Draco said dangerously. "It's probably a lot cleaner than the Gryffindor beds."  
  
Seamus hit him around the back of the head almost casually. Now playing Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, his slap had Draco wincing in pain. "I'm here to listen to Harry's story, not yours, fool," he said firmly.  
  
"Well, Dumbledore cast this spell on Draco and me, and we're pretty much tied together until we learn to trust each other," Harry said miserably.  
  
Seamus whistled; his dark eyes reflected surprise. "That sucks," he said in a low voice. "Why on Earth would you want to trust him?"  
  
"I heard that!" Draco snapped, starting to get really pissed off. What was it with people treating him like he wasn't there? It had never happened to him before. At home he was treated like royalty, and at school, people feared him. It all worked out neatly.  
  
"Are you going to tell anyone?" Harry asked Seamus, slightly desperately.  
  
Seamus thought for a moment, rubbing his snady hair. "No," he said eventually. "But you should. You should tell Ron and Hermione. They're really worried about you, and they don't believe that you were in Dumbledore's office all night."  
  
"Do you?" Harry asked quickly.  
  
"Of course!" Seamus said indignantly. "The only other explanation I could think of would be that you were in the Slytherins dorms." He shuddered.  
  
After a fairly uneventful day, in which they split their time up more or less equally, with Harry attending Potions and Divination, and Draco visiting his Arithmancy and Transfiguration class, and actually eating lunch, they once again found themselves in front of the Slytherin dorms.  
  
"We're not going in there again, are we?" Harry asked desperately. "Look, this will be the second time I haven't been to the dorms. Ron and Hermione will think something's up."  
  
"Do I look like I care?" Draco asked impatiently. Giving the password, he dragged them into the Common Room.  
  
He wandered through saying hello to various people of different years, and they eventually wound up - again - in his dorms. Harry glanced at the bed he now knew to be Draco's and shuddered. I slept in there, he thought, feeling vaguely disgusted and vaguely amused.  
  
"Ok, Potter, here's the deal," Draco said. His voice had an edge to it, like that of someone about to lose all reason. "This has been going on for two days, and we're running into problems that I knew we'd hit. I didn't know I'd miss two meals because of you, and I didn't think about the sleeping situation. But now we have a huge problem."  
  
Harry raised his eyebrows. This wasn't like Draco at all. He didn't deliberate. He was straight to the point, and blunt when he got there.  
  
"What are you on about, Malfoy? It can't be that bad."  
  
Draco took a deep breath. "I'm a clean person, ok, Potter? I like my personal hygeien habits."  
  
"Oh, no," Harry said, knowing where this was going. "No. Don't even - not a word about it."  
  
Draco nodded grimly. "Sorry Potter, but I need to shower before I go insane."  
  
Harry's insides hit rock bottom. The boy behind him was suggesting they shower together? No. It wasn't happening. It couldn't be.  
  
Some distant part of his mind was telling him that he was hysterical, that he'd heard something he just couldn't accept and had gone into denial. The rest of his mind was focues on explaining to Draco, in very clear, very simple terms, exactly why this was a bad idea.  
  
"I mean, Malfoy - just look at this. This is not something you should be doing. We are tied together. If you shower, I shower. I don't want to know about your shower habits. I don't even want to hear about them, much less see them firsthand."  
  
"Look, Potter, this isn't my idea of a good time either," Draco snapped. "But I have already missed numerous showers, and I just can't do it anymore. I feel dirty. Granted, most of that is probably because you're here, but I need to shower."  
  
"No," Harry said firmly. It was all he was capable of. "No."  
  
Outside the room, Blaise Zabini smiled with triumph before slipping quietly down the stairs. Something about his expression was - disturbing.  
  
Once down there, he headed straight for Pansy Parkinson. Her face twisted with hate as she saw him approach.  
  
"Piss off, Zabini. I've got nothing to say to you."  
  
"Pansy, Pansy," Blaise said, holding up his hands in a placating motion. "I know we've had our differences, but I'm truly sorry for that. It was my duty as a student to inform Professor Snape, you know that."  
  
"Duty, my ass," Pansy said. "You did it for your own sick pleasure."  
  
Blaise feigned humility. "I'm wounded that you would even think that, Pansy. But I am truly sorry that the consequences were so drastic. Please, let us put it all behind us. I need a favour."  
  
"A what?" Pansy almost shrieked. "You got me put on a month of in-school suspension, and I was given my own room which has been spelled not to admit anyone else, and Dumbledore told me parents, and you want a favour?!"  
  
"Yes," Blaise said, smiling. "Have you heard the rumours Peeves was spreading about Draco Malfoy? Wel, I think they're true."  
  
He told her what he'd heard last night, and then added the fact that both boys had not been seen at the same time all day, and then related what he'd just heard. When he'd finished, she was wide eyed and a malicious smile was playing about the corners of her mouth. Blaise saw it and grinned.  
  
"So now you see what I'm up to," Blaise said amicably. "You can be in on the fun, too. All you need to do is let me borrow your camera."  
  
*~*~*  
  
Author's Note: Evil Blaise! And to shower or not to shower? Review and find out... 


	6. 6

Chapter Six  
  
Harry was not really there.  
  
It was strange, though. his mind seemed to have divided into three parts, each with sub-divisions and communication links. The first part of his brian was quite simply in denial. This was not happening. not to him, Harry Potter, and certainly not here with Draco Malfoy.  
  
But while it was beaming this information steadily and consistently to the other sections of the brain, the second part was beaming back messages saying: "you're in denial. You've switched off; you are unable to cope with this situation. There is a reason for all this, just let me consult the finer points of Harry Potter and I shall get back to you shortly."  
  
The third part, and the one Harry wished would just bugger off and leave him in peace, was the one part that accepted this situation at face value. The one that was admitting that yes, he was in the showers with Draco Malfoy, and yes, he was naked, and was even admitting that yes, Draco did look hot when naked.  
  
Harry was not there. He was hiding, cowering in the part of his mind that was in denial, trying desperately not to see the pictures that the accepting part was forcing him to see: Draco's skin, which was the colour of pale porcelain, only a few shades more golden than his hair, the way the water ran over his shoulders, and down his chest, and still further down -  
  
Harry bit his tongue, hard. It kept him from screaming and shut up the babbling voice in his head. I am not gay, he said to himself. I'm sure this is a perfectly normal reaction.  
  
Draco was beginning to regret this idea. If it weren't for the fact that he was a Malfoy and a Slytherin, he would have pulled the pin and gone without showering for the second or third day in a row, and then he would have been spared the disturbing thoughts that were popping into his head.  
  
It was also in all likelihood a blessing that Draco didn't know that Harry was thinking the exact same thoughts, but with variations. While Draco's thoughts roamed over Harry's pale skin, in such a contrast to the glossy wetness of his black hair, and the nicely toned muscle of his butt, his conscious mind was screaming at him.  
  
This is not right! His inner voice protested. It's Potter - he's a guy - and your enemy - STOP!  
  
No, Draco thought firmly, one hand against the cool tile of the shower wall to brace himself. This is not happening. I am not gay. I refuse to be.  
  
But it was sheer stubborness that stopped him touching Harry's skin, even under pretence of an accident.  
  
Blaise Zabini, complete with Pansy Parkinson's camera, crept through the door to the boys change rooms. He'd originally been planning to just burst into the shower block, take his pictures, and then run like the wind, hopefully managing to find somewhere to ditch the camera in the event of Draco catching up and attempting to beat him to death.  
  
But then Pansy had told him about the peep hole that had been dug into the wall by some enterprising girl-students, before, Pansy had insisted, she had even started at Hogwarts. the grin on her face had convinced Blaise otherwise.  
  
Putting aside his disgust at the idea of Pansy watching him and other boys in his year with no clothes on, Blaise looked around.  
  
One of the benches had a small yellow star painted on it, in magical paint that was both water-and-soap-resistant. Straight above that, he knew, there was the hole, with a spell on it to make it look just like the rest of the bricks.  
  
Blaise was starting to believe that Pansy hadn't put the hole there. She didn't have the brains for this elaborate cover-up, for one. She would have just drilled a hole and had done with it.  
  
Poking it carefully with his wand, he was pleased to find it was a good size, and that the "peep hole" attatchment on the camera would fit right into it. Pricks of unease touched his back, as he realised exactly why it fit.  
  
Still, he'd ignore that for now, and find a way to make Pansy pay up later. Taking a deep breath, he put an eye to the lens - and recoiled.  
  
Draco was finished. Thank Merlin. He went to turn the water off with one hand, the other already groping for his towel, though how he would wrap it around himself when Harry was pressed firmly against him was quite beyond his understanding.  
  
But a strong hand, interestingly textured, smacked down on it. "Just a minute, Malfoy," Harry said cheerfully, tipping his head back under the warm water. "Ypi've hogged all the water. Let me have a few minutes."  
  
"You're kidding!" Draco hissed in contempt. "You were totally against this idea from the start. You said it was - "  
  
Click. Whirr. Flash.  
  
It was loud enough, bright enough, to have even Harry, who'd had his eyes closed and his head under the water, up and alert. "What the Hell was that?" he asked, sputtering as he swallowed water.  
  
Draco was looking around too, and heard footsteps. He swore. "That, Potter, was most probably some fool with a camera. And since we saw the flash, I'm assuming the picture was taken of us."  
  
"Of us?" Harry asked in a strangled voice. "Tied together? Showering?" He smacked his hand against his forehead. "We're screwed."  
  
Draco snorted, and a miracle accoured. "Yes, we are," he said, for once in his life agreeing with Harry Potter. "Unless we can get the camera."  
  
"You know who it was?" Harry asked hopefully.  
  
Draco just shrugged, and a killing look came into his winter-grey eyes.  
  
Blaise Zabini ducked into the Room of Requirement, which he found to be full of useful implements for the development of photos, and Pansy Parkinson, chuckling to herself.  
  
"Did you get it?" she asked eagerly, reaching for her camera with both hands. Blaise pulled it away from her, and she gave him a surprised look.  
  
"Just a minute," he said smoothly. "I should develop it, since I took the risk. Then you and I are going to talk about the hole in the showers."  
  
He went over and pulled the film from the camera. The first pictures he ignored - Pansy and numerous guys in outfits and positions he found easier to look at it pornographic magazines, and groups of the Slytherin girls celebrating someone's birthday.  
  
Then he came to the picture he wanted. Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, and from what he could see from the negative, in high definition, even under the hissing water from the showers. Both were completely naked. Smiling to himself, he started to develop the picutre. 


End file.
